A Gentleman in Moscow

In 1922, Count Alexander Rostov is deemed an unrepentant aristocrat by a Bolshevik tribunal, the Count is sentenced to house arrest in The Metropol, a grand hotel across the street from the Kremlin. Rostov, an indomitable man of erudition and wit, has never worked a day in his life, and must now live in an attic room while some of the most tumultuous decades in Russian history are unfolding outside the hotel's doors. Unexpectedly, his reduced circumstances provide him a doorway into a much larger world of emotional discovery.

This author's name, Amor Towles, sounds like a nice linen company. This novel by the writer of "Rules of Civility" is more clever than witty or profound. Towles works in a lot of obvious references to Russian heavyweights like Chekov, Tolstoy, and Dostoevsky. Also I would have called it "Count Me In Moscow" because the main character is a Count under hotel arrest after the Revolution.

The titular "Gentleman in Moscow" is more accurately a "gentleman in the Metropol Hotel" as the vast majority of the 30+ year span of the novel takes place within the elegant and sprawling dining rooms, kitchens, ballrooms, guest rooms, basements, attics, closets, and hallways of that establishment. Count Alexander Ilyich Rostov is, in the opening pages, sentenced to house arrest in a tiny room of the hotel as the Bolsheviks set about transforming the outside world via collectivization, purging, and five-year plans. Throughout it all, the Count and the hotel attempt to maintain a certain level of civility and charm, even as they are forced to substitute beets for apples in the evening's special dish and remove all the bourgeois labels from the bottles of wine in the vast cellars. The reader, like the Count, is only indirectly made aware of the developments in the outside world through occasional visitors to the hotel. Despite his best efforts to stick to his habits, the Count grows in dealing with his loss and grief, building real friendships, developing romance out of casual sexual encounters, and ultimately - and unexpectedly - becoming a parent. Amor Towles writes with a commanding and witty erudition that never feels pretentious or forced. Reading this book is a true delight.

I waited for a print copy of A Gentleman in Moscow because I expected it to be an exceptional, literary read, and I wanted to give it due attention. Besides, my mother in law had told me that "the gentleman" (as she calls him) was her favourite character in a book, ever. So I approached this book with great anticipation . . . and I was not disappointed. It was everything I didn't know I needed, elegant and thoughtful and intricately pieced together, so that, as the plot came together and revealed itself, I was absolutely delighted and awed. That said, it took some time and patience--this is not a book to be rushed! Though the plot is not fast, and unfolds in just one setting (mostly), I was reluctant to finish it, and sad and delighted once I'd done so.

“It is a sad but unavoidable fact of life," he began, "that as we age our social circles grow smaller. Whether from increased habit or diminished vigor, we suddenly find ourselves in the company of just a few familiar faces.” - p. 94

“After all, what can a first impression tell us about someone we’ve just met for a minute in the lobby of a hotel? For that matter, what can a first impression tell us about anyone? Why, no more than a chord can tell us about Beethoven, or a brushstroke about Botticelli. By their very nature, human beings are so capricious, so complex, so delightfully contradictory, that they deserve not only our consideration, but our reconsideration—and our unwavering determination to withhold our opinion until we have engaged with them in every possible setting at every possible hour.” - pp. 120-121

“Showing a sense of personal restraint that was almost out of character, the Count had restricted himself to two succinct pieces of parental advice. The first was that if one did not master one’s circumstances, one was bound to be mastered by them; and the second was Montaigne’s maxim that the surest sign of wisdom is constant cheerfulness.” - p. 419

Summary

The author shows insight into the customs. language, and values of his characters and their time. In just a few words he makes the reader picture the scene and often leaves gaps of years, leaving an explanation of what happened during this time for later in the story. A book that I couldn't put down.